Last weekend we had some guests in our home and she brought her Golden Retriever.  Cami was so much fun and the kids loved her.  Amanda worked with Lona on having Cami sit, walk and heel.  Lona was in 7th heaven and was really excited.  When Amanda and Cami left, we had no dog again.  We looked through Craig's list and the Bellingham Hearld.  John wanted a mutt.  He has always had a mutt never a purebred.  We found a Golden Retriever/Black Lab mix puppy.  I wanted a girl.  John didn't care.  So we picked him up.  His name is Skagit.  Around 5pm we decided to head to Oak Harbor.  So we rushed through dinner, dropped our visiting friends off at their house and headed to Widbey Island.  The only thing we told Lona was that we were going on a drive for about 3 hours.  I brought a  box with some old towels and a bowl for water.  After crossing the bridge we pulled over for the kids to run across in the dark.  They were gone for about 5 minutes.  Job was FREAKED out!  Too scary he said.  Shortly, we were pulled over by a highway patrolman for having only one headlight.  We couldn't get the window rolled down and then we rolled down the wrong window and then fumbled with our driver's licence.  I'm sitting there with a huge box on my lap and he asks me what are we doing on the island.  I had to tell him that we were on our way to get a Christmas present.  He was laughing the whole time.  I love it when someone who pulls you over has a great attitude.  We just need to get our headlight fixed, pronto.  Well we picked out a puppy and he's going to be larger than John would like but he is a combination of two breeds that we like.  So last night we had to stop at Walmart to purchase chew toys, puppy food, and a little colar (it's camoflage).  But no crate.  We will have a crate very soon.  He spent the night in the bathtub in a box, well he was supposed to anyhow.  John got up at 1:30 to take him outside to go potty.  At 6:30 I took him out - nothing and then at 7:00 am too.  Finally something.  I did have to clean up the tub from an accident but tonight it will be different.  I've been reading all sorts of stuff and I think a crate is the way to go.  I am hoping that we don't have to get up with him too much in the morning.  Right now we have about 4 experts on training.  Yikes.